'Fun tax' aimed at canoe liveries gets tipped in Westfall Twp.

Westfall Township's so-called "fun tax" is dead in the water as a judge has permanently blocked the township from taxing canoe rentals.

BETH BRELJE

Westfall Township's so-called "fun tax" is dead in the water as a judge has permanently blocked the township from taxing canoe rentals.

Westfall supervisors adopted a 1 percent tax in December 2012 on anything considered entertainment where admission is charged.

The tax was to be imposed on canoe liveries, golf driving ranges, music in parks, carnival rides, gun and home shows at the Best Western Hunt's Landing, Have a Hoot amusement center and rodeos at Malibu Dude Ranch.

The decision only prohibits Westfall from collecting the tax from the canoe liveries; it still can collect from the other entities.

The tax would have covered admissions at high school sporting events and plays, but the Delaware Valley School Board agreed to pay Westfall Township $180 a year in lieu of paying the tax.

Kittatinny Canoes and Indian Head Canoes asked the Pike County Court of Common Pleas to block the township from enforcing the tax on watercraft.

In April, specially presiding Judge Jonathan Mark of Monroe County granted a temporary injunction preventing the township from taxing canoe liveries until the case was concluded. Now Westfall is permanently prevented from enforcing the fun tax against amusements or activities on or in the Delaware River, Mark ordered Jan. 3.

"It gives us closure and hopefully we can put this behind us and just run our business," said Dave Jones, co-owner of Kittatinny Canoes. "It is unfortunate we had to go through this for so long. We are happy we prevailed."

Jones would not specify the exact amount but said that the liveries incurred significant legal fees. "I just want to get along with everyone and run my business," Jones said.

The township tax is preempted by federal law, Mark wrote in his opinion.

The liveries argued that the township adopted the tax under the color of state law and that taxing the liveries is in violation of two federal laws because the businesses operate in three states.

Paddlers who meet in Westfall are either bused to a New York access site upriver and then paddle to Westfall, or they paddle down river to Delaware Water Gap, exiting boats on the New Jersey side.

The Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which authorizes Congress to regulate commerce among states, says a state may not impose a tax on interstate commerce, court papers say.

The suit also claims the fun tax violates a federal law that says "no taxes, tolls, operating charges, fees or any other impositions whatever shall be levied upon or collected from any vessel or other watercraft, or from its passengers or crew by any non-federal interest if the vessel or watercraft is operating any navigable waters subject to the authority of the United States."

The Delaware River is managed federally by the National Park Service in two sections, the Upper Delaware Scenic River and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

Officials from Westfall were not immediately available to comment Monday.